March 3, 3019 (S.R. 1419)1. Théoden retreats to Helm's Deep.(from the appendices)..."The rumour of war grew behind them. Now they could hear... ...the sound of harsh singing. They had climbed far up into the Deeping Coomb when they looked back. Then they saw torches, countless points of fiery light upon the black fields behind... ...Here and there a larger blaze leapt up. ...'It is a great host and follows us hard,' said Aragorn. ...'They bring fire,' said Théoden, 'and they are burning as they come, rick, cot, and tree. This was a rich vale and had many homesteads. Alas for my folk...!' ...[Aragorn] '...It grieves me to fly before them.' ...'We need not fly much further,' said Éomer. 'Not far ahead now lies Helm's Dike, an ancient trench and rampart scored across the Coomb, two furlongs below Helm's Gate. There we can turn and give battle.'" [furlong = .125 miles or 220 yards]2. Battle of the Hornburg begins.(from the appendices)..."Arrows thick as the rain came whistling over the battlements, and fell clinking and glancing on the stones. Some found a mark. The assault on Helm's Deep had begun, but no sound or challenge was heard within; no answering arrows came. ...The assailing hosts halted, foiled by the silent menace of rock and wall.... ...the Orcs screamed, waving spear and sword, and shooting a cloud of arrows at any that stood revealed upon the battlements; and the men of the Mark amazed looked out….

......Then at last an answer came: a storm of arrows met them, and a hail of stones... ...[Orcs] wavered, broke, and fled back; and then charged again, broke and charged again; and each time, like the incoming sea….

......Éomer and Aragorn stood together on the Deeping Wall. They heard the roar of voices and the thudding of the rams; and then in a sudden flash of light they beheld the peril of the gates. ...'Come!' said Aragorn. 'This is the hour when we draw swords together!' ...Running like fire, they sped along the wall, and up the steps, and passed into the outer court upon the Rock….

...'Two!' said Gimli, patting his axe. He had returned to his place on the wall. ...'Two?' said Legolas. 'I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone. Yet I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'"

3. Ents complete the destruction of Isengard.(from the appendices)..."'At dusk Treebeard came back to the gate. He was humming and booming to himself, and seemed pleased. He stood and stretched his great arms and legs and breathed deep. I asked him if he was tired. ...'"Tired..? ...tired? Well no, not tired, but stiff. I need a good draught of Entwash. We have worked hard; we have done more stone-cracking and earth-gnawing today than we have done in many a long year before... ...When night falls do not linger near this gate or in the old tunnel! Water may come through—and it will be foul water for a while, until all the filth of Saruman is washed away. Then Isen can run clean again.' He began to pull down a bit more of the wall, in a leisurely sort of way, just to amuse himself….'" ..."...It must have been about midnight when the Ents broke the dams and poured all the gathered waters through a gap in the northern wall, down into Isengard....' ...'...We took refuge in that guardroom over there; and we had rather a fright. The lake began to overflow and pour out through the old tunnel, and the water was rapidly rising up the steps. We thought we were going to get caught like Orcs in a hole; but we found a winding stair at the back of the store-room that brought us out on top of the arch. It was a squeeze to get out, as the passages had been cracked and half blocked with fallen stone near the top. There we sat high up above the floods and watched the drowning of Isengard."

4. Frodo and Sam hide from the terror in the sky.(not from the appendices)..."While the grey light lasted, they cowered under a black stone like worms, shrinking, lest the winged terror should pass and spy them with its cruel eyes. The remainder of that journey was a shadow of growing fear in which memory could find nothing to rest upon." Second draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - updated list coming soon